Executing a Successful Mobile App Strategy Highlights from IBM Impact 2012 conference Impact 2012 conference is full of mobile content! Rational mobile experts are talking about the challenges of mobile application development/delivery and the tools and solutions from IBM for successfully managing the lifecycle. You can learn more about:   How do you develop for and test against multiple platforms effectively? How do you align business and development? How do you gain control of your development process and accelerate time to delivery? If you... [More]

Tags:  mobile-application-develo... app will-smythe mobile leigh-williamson strategy dev ibm-impact michael-rowe developer

The 20th century manufacturing revolution simplified the way people and teams worked together toward a larger goal. But when it comes to software delivery, the odds of predicting project success is still more of an art than science. Looking for a solution -- often when the problem itself isn’t clear -- IT organizations spend way too much time and energy on internal dynamics and the activities associated with production, rather than innovation and competitive goals. Most of the time, the reason for this wasted effort is poor collaboration and... [More]

Tags:  engineering enterprise ec12 zenterprise power system-z modernization clm ibm-power-systems systems ibm-rational smarter-computing continuous-integration

Smarter. Flatter. Intelligent. Interconnected. Instrumented. We all agree that the world is changing. More likely than not you're building products or services that are driving this evolution. But are you prepared to lead? How can you prepare and win in the age of Smarter Products and Services ?   By Dominic Tavassoli and Pierre Coyne .   Delivering innovative products and services that transform the way we live, work, and play You hear about IBM's 100-year anniversary and the evolution of the technology from the Industrial Revolution... [More]

Tags:  smart-products smart-services development embedded-software-require... smarter-products new-product-development smarter-services innovation innovative products-systems-engineer...

*Image courtesy Jaguar Land Rover Limited   Keeping commuters amused and informed is the objective of modern cars in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems. However the dynamic and interdependent nature of IVI systems makes them one of the most complicated systems to design and build. Consider for example the simple use case of volume control in the car. To an oblivious user it is a simple knob that needs to be turned to control the intensity of the sound. But if the consumer is to be given a uniform experience irrespective of the speed and... [More]

On a long journey from Bangalore to Las Vegas, I had quite a few things on my mind as to what I will do in Vegas. But well, I had to constantly remind myself that it was not a holiday but a business trip! I was travelling to Vegas to attend the IBM premier Cloud and Mobile conference- InterConnect 2015 .  It’s IBM’s largest conference with over 20,000 attendees from across the globe covering a wide variety of topics ranging from Hybrid Cloud, Mobile, IoT and Security etc. It was while exploring the InterConnect event’s... [More]

Tags:  interconnect2016 ibm interconnect2015 zsystems mainframe method garage cloud bluemix devops

You’ve written your mobile app. It’s deployed to an app store. But how much time did you spend improving the quality of your app? Mobile users have a low tolerance for faults. 79 percent of mobile users will only retry an app once or twice if it fails to work the first time . The quality of your mobile app will go a long way to determining the success of your app. Low-quality apps suffer from issues such as frequent crashes, poor... [More]

Tags:  mobile-applications rational application-development mobile-app-development mobile-application-develo... mqa mobile mobile-development application

The Toyota Crisis In the wake of the Toyota auto tragedies over the past two years, and the subsequent investigations by NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), I was surprised to learn how ill-prepared NHTSA was initially to dig into the matter -- to see what might have gone wrong, and where the blame might fall. The matter: possible vulnerabilities in the electronic throttle control (ETC) system in several Toyota vehicles. Patented in 2002, ETC is an electro-mechanical, software-driven subsystem that has been in... [More]

Tags:  perrow crisis management favorite risk mike collaboration software productivity delivery

When I was young and just starting my career one of the key lessons I learned from one of my first mentors was to always look for ways to improve.  Actively look for ways to learn more, and be open to new ideas. At the time this was revolutionary to me because I thought I knew a lot more than other people about certain things; this is one of the drawbacks of youth I guess. But I thought about it, took this advice to heart, and remember it every day. Always look for ways to improve what you do.    When I started playing on a... [More]

Tags:  test systems-engineering ibm-rational joannescouler process develop-test product-development rational grahambleakley engineering

The compelling case for application portfolio management For most companies, what would you say is the greatest challenge to achieving innovation? Is it a lack of skill? Imagination? Dedication to success? In our direct experience, confirmed by research we’ve done, it’s none of these things. Across the globe, we find that skilled, imaginative, and dedicated teams are increasingly hampered by limited financial resources. Operational and maintenance expenses consume far too much of the IT budget, so there’s little left to fund initiatives... [More]

Tags:  innovation hayden-lindsey applications per-kroll electronics application-portfolio-man... mike-perrow

Rethink IT, reinvent business IBM SmartCloud enables a new era of computing Here is something you have probably heard from IBM Rational over the past several years: Innovation in software will differentiate your products and services from the competition, which will improve your organization’s bottom line. We firmly believe this is true, and we have case studies and our own in-the-trenches experience to back it up. The problem is, all the innovative thinking in the world will not do you a bit of good if you cannot deliver that software on time... [More]

Tags:  ibm clm innovation rrc operations platform-as-a-service software-delivery alm development application-lifecycle-man... collaborative-lifecycle-m... rqm it paas smart-cloud devops rtc

Here's a thought exercise for anybody who writes computer code. Imagine that you're working on a two-month task, just like the work that you do all the time. But there's a catch: your boss needs to know how many lines of code you are going to add, change or delete. Your goal is to be correct within 10 percent of the final number of changed lines.    Sounds tough, right? Well, I have to do that before each release of the documentation for a software product. Months before my documentation team's work is finished,... [More]

Tags:  automation devops monitoring

  Industries of all varieties have begun to realize that the target audiences for their business applications have shifted in massive numbers from the use of traditional personal computers, such as desktops and notebooks, to using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for accessing the internet and for obtaining the information that they seek. This applies if the intended audience for the application is a direct customer of the enterprise (business-to-consumer apps, or “B2C”), or if the targeted user is an employee or business partner... [More]

Tags:  mobile-application-develo... ibm-mobile mobile-development enterprise-applications native-apps hybrid-apps mobile leigh-williamson enterprise smartphone html

Although I am looking at development lifecycle from the perspective of mobile applications now, it wasn't that long ago that I was the Program Director for IBM Rational Jazz Lifecycle Integration platform. My teams were constantly challenged to iteratively bring new capabilities to market to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of cloud, mobile and social, which are undeniably critical influencers for even the traditional application lifecycle. The value of continuous delivery was never more applicable: use the right tools at the right... [More]

Tags:  change oslc open-source mobile demand devops business-partner stephanie-trunzo susan-peich collaboration pointsource

  Requirements management What's next for the first, crucial step in successful product development We’ve written many times here about the changing nature of the products and systems that we use in our personal and business lives. The increase in software is the invisible thread that is guiding product innovation and connecting a planet of "intelligent" things. We’ve also talked about the increasing complexity of such products and the challenges that multidisciplinary engineering teams (software, electronic,... [More]

Tags:  rational-doors doors doors-next-generation requirements requirements-management traceability

You need a good information model to carry out effective impact analysis. A software impact analysis report usually covers just the requirements for the relevant part of the code and the test used to verify the code. In a model-based paradigm, however, the effect of a change at the software level can be much greater.   A small change at the code level can impact many requirements and model elements, traversing all the way up the requirement and model hierarchy. Therefore, the information model should be consistently applied across all the... [More]

Tags:  ibm-rational rational-team-concert systems-engineering rational-doors model model-based-systems-engin... rational-rhapsody rational doors

“IBM Bluemix PaaS provides a first-class application development environment on the cloud.” - Ovum    Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Agile development practices are both fundamental concepts underlying a DevOps approach.  However, DevOps broadens the scope of ALM and Agile, promoting sustained innovation across the enterprise with participation from stakeholders beyond just the development and operations teams, and embracing lines of business, executives, partners, suppliers and customers.  ... [More]

Tags:  bluemix agile alm devops

A Practical Approach to Quality! If your software and systems development team is under 10 people, including coding, testing, and project management, then your projects may not experience huge difficulties associated with traceability -- i.e., the discipline that links requirements to test case and test results. But for larger teams of 30 or more, where even a medium-size project involves 5,000 requirements and 10,000 test cases, the complexity can feel overwhelming. Consider this: If it takes 20 minutes to link the appropriate test... [More]

Tags:  systems-engineering roi risk it quality-management software white-paper systems moshe-cohen requirements development

Enterprise Architecture + Project Portfolio Management = Winning What are the strategic goals and objectives of the organization? What products, services, applications are there to support ? Where should the spending of precious resources take place? Where are we going - what are our options and how and when will we get there? These are questions every organization has to ask themselves….if they can be answered you are in a good position! But that is not usually the case… Businesses have, and are still, investing significant amounts in order to... [More]

Tags:  enterprise-architecture project-portfolio-managem...

In what ways is medical device development similar to other product development? If you are in a product development role, you will be very aware of the sorts of challenges you face, including: Increased competition Need to sell into global markets Need to shorten development time and time to market The Rational Solution for Systems and Software Engineering has been produced to help companies to meet these challenges. In this post, I am going to briefly discuss the solution for medical device development that is being built as an extension. In... [More]

Tags:  medical-development rational-doors fda iso iec-61508 doors 61508 62304 iec iec-62304 iec-standards medical-device agile international-standards medical-device-compliance

We sat down with Alan Brown, IBM Rational CTO for Europe, and asked him about the experiences with customers that drove him to write his new book, “Enterprise Software Delivery: Bringing Agility and Efficiency to the Global Software Supply Chain”, on the CIO summer reading list .   Agile practices are really a key part of the way most organizations are trying to change these days. Agility means more flexibility and provides freedom, but that that kind of flexibility must come with discipline and rigor to give an organization the chance to put... [More]

Tags:  supply-chain alan-brown delivery agility agile software agility-at-scale enterprise-software-deliv... cio

Cloud enabled technologies and DevOps is a major growth initiative for IBM, so we’re excited to announce that Pulse 2014 will feature a Cloud Enabled Technologies and DevOps stream as part of the Optimizing IT & Service Management Track . These sessions will showcase how enterprises can drive rapid business innovation leveraging private and hybrid models. Points of emphasis will be private cloud implementations, Software Defined Environments, DevOps across the cloud and the value of Open Standards initiatives such as Open Stack and... [More]

Tags:  conference cloud-computing cloud pulse puresystems devops

Today we’re starting a new series called “ A Rational approach to enterprise modernization .” This series is meant to help you and your business to optimize the value of your applications, people, teams and infrastructure. It's based on a thought leadership white paper from Ashok Reddy . Over the past half century, businesses of all types across the globe have made significant investments in software and systems to automate business processes, deliver innovative capabilities, and integrate operations. As technology has evolved, organizations... [More]

Tags:  enterprise-modernization

The world has officially gone mobile. It has done so in ways that we could not even have conceived of only a few years ago. Today, there are more smartphones and tablets sold than all of the PCs in the world put together , and in certain countries mobile devices have replaced cash . They have created a vibrant app economy with almost 500,000 new jobs. And a mobile startup goes from zero to a one billion valuation in less than two years. Mobile development has not been confined to just the individual or consumer market. It has also been a key... [More]

Tags:  apple clm applications ux agile-development android ui neeraj-chandra html5 apps rational native alm greenhat agile mobile-development web cloud mobile hybrid ios

The DevOps Services team will be all over the place at IBM Innovate ! With a bunch of great sessions and interactive experiences planned, there are lots of ways for you to learn about IBM DevOps Services and BlueMix , meet our team, and try out our tools in person. Below you’ll find just a sampling of a few of the places you can learn more about IDS and BlueMix at Innovate. For a full list of sessions and workshops, see the Innovate 2014 Agenda .   Be sure to follow our twitter account @JazzHub for... [More]

Tags:  bluemix ibm-innovate jazzhub conference innovate innovate-2014

If you are on a software development team these days, you are feeling the pressure to deliver faster. But you still need to deliver value. And don’t forget – you must keep costs down, too. A tall order! How do teams “deliver at the speed of business?”   Consider this simple analogy… You drive your car to the store or to work every day. You know the path and how long it should take because you’ve done it many times. Can you anticipate the risks you might encounter along the way on any given day? Some,... [More]

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Can government improve or expand services and lower costs at the same time? With nearly 14 million people unemployed and 2.5 million that have given up looking for a job, most agree that government needs to be more efficient and lower costs. But in tough economic times like these, is it really possible for government to improve or expand services while lowering costs?       Is it really possible to "do more with less"?   If you have been around over the last 3 years, chances are you have heard the phrase, "do more with... [More]

Tags:  unemployment smarter-cities services economic-downturn cost efficiency resources government more-with-less gov economy

If you’re heading to IBM Pulse or looking for an excuse to be in the neighbourhood you should sign up for dev@Pulse ! This is a free 2 day event being held at the Hakkasan Nightclub in MGM Grand. Registering gets you access to a free party on Monday evening and Pulse Palooza on Tuesday night.     There are no peds at dev@Pulse, just open tables and short labs to learn about our technology. I’m running a lab that will show how you can code and host a Node.js app completely in a Cloud based environment. The dev platform... [More]

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Want to know what IBM Innovate 2014 has to offer? Check out this infographic to see why you can't afford to miss being in sunny Orlando, Florida in June. And be sure to follow @ibminnovate for the latest updates. (Tip: click on infographic to enlarge)

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The world is not just getting flatter, it’s getting smarter. And changes in our phone usage can be seen as the archetype of how technology is driving the new smarter planet. The smartness quotient in the phones is no longer driven by hardware (which gets rapidly standardized) but rather by the number of applications that can be accessed with the phone. However developing applications for the diverse platforms such as Android, iOS, Windows Mobile and others, has become a herculean task. These platforms offer endless possibilities for... [More]

Tags:  mobile-applications smartphone development agile-development application-development agile ios android applications